Stolen Moments
by anna-garny
Summary: Emily kissed Loker, and his immediate reaction was 'Oh, I am so fired.' Not 'Oh, that was so wrong.' What happened after Cal invited him in for a beer that night? Rated M just in case.
1. Chapter 1

Eli looked across the sofa at Emily, steadfastly ignoring the steely gaze of his boss and taking a very deliberate sip from his beer.

Cal was concerned. He was trying to hide it, and failing miserably. He might be good at lying in most circumstances, but when it came to Emily his defences dropped dramatically, hence the sucker-punch to Loker's solar-plexus earlier that day when his radically honest intern had confessed to him that he and Emily had kissed.

The blow Emily had delivered to his own gut moments after he'd invited Loker in for a beer hadn't even been pulled and as much as he hated to admit it he was proud of her for doing it.

So now the three of them were in the lounge, Loker and Lightman sipping on bottles of beer while Emily worked on the pint of pineapple ice-cream she had been sharing with her Dad when Loker had arrived.

'What flavour is that?' Loker asked as she took a mouthful.  
'Pineapple, want some?'

Loker glanced at Cal, who gave the slightest nod to his intern, before turning back to Emily with a broad smile.

'Sure. Where do you keep the-'  
'Here.' Emily held out the spoon she had been using and Loker had to remind himself of three things in rapid succession before he just leaned forward and bit the ice-cream off the end of it.  
One- Emily Lightman is only sixteen  
Two- Her father is less than five meters away  
Three- Her father is my boss.

Eli reached out and took the spoon out of her fingers, catching a flash of disappointment across Emily's features as he tasted the icy treat.  
'Not bad. Rocky road's my favourite, though.'  
'Do we have any of that, Dad?'  
'No idea, Em. Go check.'  
'Okay.'  
'And bring Loker back his own spoon. '

Emily leapt over the back of the sofa, handing Eli the pint of pineapple and strolling into the kitchen in search of a better flavour.

'One beer, Loker. When that beer is empty you get up and you-'  
'No rocky road... but there's some chocolate fudge swirl here!' Emily called, interrupting her father.  
'Sounds great, Em!' Cal shouted back, not missing a beat.  
'I get it, Cal, I'm outta here once the beer is gone. Don't want to wear out my welcome.'  
'Good.'

Eli took another mouthful of his beer, carefully noting how much he had left, all the while Cal watched him closely.

'Here.' Emily handed Eli the pint bucket, she'd taken the lid off and stuck a spoon into the vein of fudge on the surface. As Eli took it, his fingers brushed Emily's and he caught the briefest expression of happiness as it flashed across her features. Sometimes being able to read people was a skill Eli wished he had never learned, but other times, like this, he was glad he could see such tiny emotions.

They were stealing a moment that was, by rights, a completely forbidden fruit. But their mutual knowledge of micro-expressions meant that the tiniest emotional movements were caught and savoured.

Cal didn't like it one bit, and made sure they were both aware of it, clearing his throat far more loudly than was strictly necessary. His daughter and his intern broke their eye contact and Cal felt his eyes widen as Emily's lips curved into a small smile and she sat down on the sofa again. She and Eli ate their ice-cream in silence for a few seconds before Cal couldn't take it anymore and picked up the TV remote to flick the set on.

He didn't really allow himself to get distracted by the ball game that was on the box, keeping one eye on Loker as he interacted with Emily.

Being able to read every emotion on the face of his daughter, and the boy man she was conversing with, was somewhat a curse. But they were keeping themselves in check, and after a few awkward seconds Emily and Eli settled into a friendly banter that was more like the interactions that Cal was used to, and he allowed the TV to distract him.

Fifteen measured mouthfuls later, Eli shook his empty bottle and stood up, clutching the bottle, the almost-empty ice-cream tub and the spoon he had been eating with. Cal was well and truly engrossed in the game, but his head snapped up when Emily followed Eli out of his line of vision and into the kitchen.

There was (yet) another awkward moment between the two as Eli handed Emily the ice-cream bucket for her to put it back in the freezer and pulled the recycling bin out to drop his beer bottle into it.

'See you Monday, Dr Lightman.' Loker called to his boss as he walked past the lounge and towards the front door, Emily following.

'Night, Loker.' Cal muttered, making a move to stand up but stopping short as Emily shot him a glare from the hallway. He sank back into the sofa and tried not to crane his neck too much as he listened to the conversation at the front door.

'I'll see you later in the week, yeah?' Emily asked as the front door creaked open.  
'I guess so. You still going to Music Fest?'  
'Definitely.'  
'Well, I did get a ticket.'  
'Maybe I'll see you there.' Cal could hear the smile in his daughters' voice and had to actively restrain himself from standing up and going to the door to stand behind her in full Overprotective-Dad-Mode. But he held back, somewhat content to just listen.  
'Maybe. Have a good weekend, Em.'  
'You too, Eli.'

Ten long seconds later the door closed, and Emily came back into the lounge, a slight tinge of pink in her cheeks and a secretive smile making her features light up.

Cal sighed, resigned, and leaned back in his seat, stretched his arm along the back of the couch and invited Emily to join him.

She grinned at her Dad and stepped around the coffee table to snuggle into his side.


	2. Chapter 2

"You really ate a muffin that more than likely contained a hallucinogen, and videotaped the results, on purpose?"

"Yes. To help your dad."

"While he was in that mental institution?"

"Exactly."

"Can I see it?"

"See what?" Loker was distracted by a beeping computer, and didn't really hear what Emily asked. He'd just asked her to repeat the request when his brain processed what she'd asked.

"Oh, Em, I don't know..."

"Dad told me about it, he offered to show me but I said I wanted to ask you first."

Eli spluttered a little as he turned in his seat to face a smiling Emily.

"C'mon, Em, do you really want to see me arguing with thin air?"

"Ria told me you got half-naked, too..." Emily said with a sly smile that, for a moment, reminded Eli so strongly of her father that he did a double-take.

"Emily Loker you will be the death of me."

"You still haven't answered me."

"Don't you have a boyfriend?"

"Who, Liam? He's my study partner, he's been helping me with debating stuff. Can I see it or not?"

Eli considered his options. He knew that it was likely that Emily would see the tape either way – as soon as Cal got wind that Eli didn't want her to see it he'd make a point of replaying it on the big screen every time Emily came into the office.

"Fine, I'll play it for you, but I'm censoring some parts. Here." he spun a chair for her to sit in and turned his attention back to the computer.

Emily clapped her hands, just once, grinning madly, as Eli cued up the video and turned on one of the bigger monitors.

"I suppose you'll want popcorn?" he asked as Emily settled into one of the executive chairs and watched as Eli-on-the-screen spoke to the camera.

"Alright, let's see how magical this muffin really is." he unwrapped it and took a bite, commenting on the texture and taste as he chewed before rounding the table in the cube to take a seat, opening a book while he waited for the drugs to kick in.

"Of course I want popcorn – and a soda." Emily said, distracted by the video.

By the time Eli got back with a bag of microwave popcorn and two cans of Coke the tape had progressed enough that the hallucinogen in the muffins was starting to affect Eli-on-the-screen, he was talking to someone supposedly sitting opposite him, well, shouting, really. He went to pour himself a glass of milk and almost missed the glass, then sloshed half of it down himself when he tried to drink it.

"Do you remember much of this?" Emily asked, taking one of the cans from him and nodding towards the screen.

"I remember that I definitely saw my old algebra teacher sitting in the cube with me. Then Torres came in and started tormenting me, telling me how my science is flawed. I think I had an argument with your Dad, too."

"Not surprising. I'm pretty sure if I ate a drugged muffin I'd argue with him, too. In fact, I think I argue with him in my sleep."

Eli held out the popcorn for Emily to take a handful from the bag before taking some himself.

"Why did you tell me about him being in there in the first place? Gillian didn't want me to know, neither did he."

"I felt that you needed to know what was going on. You deserved to know where your Dad was."

"He told me that he gave you the thing to take away and test - why did you eat it instead of just sending it to the lab?"

"It was quicker to eat it and see what happened."

The two of them sat in silence as, in the cube, Eli got more and more agitated, kicking over the chair, stripping off his t-shirt when he realised it had milk on it, kicking of his shoes and tearing one sock off before resuming a rapid pace around the room, lashing out randomly; knocking everything off the table before overturning it and screaming at the camera he knew was filming him.

"That looks like it was really rough." Emily commented at last, when Eli-on-screen had retreated to a corner of the booth and sat down, rocking, drinking gulps of milk from the half-gallon and muttering to himself before Torres came in and found him, shutting the camera off.

"It's not so bad - we got the lab results for what the drugs were and Ria got me what was basically an antidote within a few hours... then I slept for a while and woke up fine. I had a killer headache, but I'm okay now."

"You know, between you and my Dad I don't think I've ever met crazier people."

"That might be a good thing. At least you know crazy when you see it."

"You know, I was reading something on the internet the other day about crazy people."

"Oh, really?" Eli kept his tone light, not entirely sure where Emily Lightman might turn this seemingly-innocent conversation.

"Yes, really. Apparently, crazy attracts crazy - that's why you like working with my Dad... you're practically the same as him, just younger."

"Much younger." Eli prompted, his pride a little wounded.

"Much younger." Emily repeated after him.

Eli suddenly noticed just how close to him Emily had drifted, and that their knees were touching. She had her hand on his arm and was looking up at him half-smiling.

"Em, what are you doing?"

"Nothing."

"I don't believe you."

"Okay, so I'm up to something." Emily admitted, and, moving so swiftly that Loker couldn't stop her, she shifted from her seat to his lap, slinging her arms around his neck.

"Also, crazy is genetic. So if my Dad's crazy, chances are I am, too."

"Emily, you can't do this to me, not again..."

"We're here alone, Eli, Dad went home an hour ago and as far as he knows I'm at Liam's until nine."

"Damn, Em, Gillian could walk in, or Torres-"

Emily cut him off with a swift, intense kiss, sliding her hands to the sides of his face to stop him pulling away.

Eli resisted, for a moment, more out of shock than anything else, and as his brain struggled to catch up with what was happening, his instincts took over and he started kissing her back, his own hands coming to rest on her hips, pulling her up against himself as she deepened the kiss, gently opening his mouth with hers.

The moment her tongue contacted his was like a bolt of electricity going through Eli - his head whipped back and he pulled his hands away from Emily's body as if he'd been scalded. She grinned at him, giggling a little and leaned into him, sliding her cheek along his so that she could whisper directly into his ear.

"I know what I'm doing, Eli."

Eli squeezed his eyes shut, praying for some self-control. He tried thinking about the million ways that this could all go wrong but the pressure of Emily's warm body against his, her pliable flesh beneath his fingers... when had his hand returned to her waist? How had his other hand made it all the way to her shoulder?

Emily caught him by the hair, tangling her fingers through the curls at the crown of his head and pulling his face back, exposing his neck as she spoke again.

"I know what I want, too. Don't pretend you're not enjoying this..."

Eli was acutely aware of exactly how his body was reacting to what Emily was doing to him - how did she know that he liked having his hair pulled? That the most sensitive spot on his entire upper body was that place below his ear that she was now doing something truly magical to...

He battled with himself for a few fruitless seconds before throwing caution to the wind and twisting in his seat to capture Emily's mouth with his own.

"That's more like it." Emily muttered, biting his bottom lip and grinning at the moan it elicited from the man beneath her.

"Your dad is going to kill me..." Eli said to the ceiling as Emily ran her mouth down his neck to the open collar of his shirt.

"My dad is never going to find out about this because neither of us is going to tell him." Emily opened the top two buttons of the shirt with deft fingers, dipping her head to press her lips to the hollow at the base of Eli's throat.

Somewhere in the office, a door slammed.

Emily's head whipped up and she looked at Eli, eyes wide and panicked, pulling away from him and taking three very fast steps backwards, hitting a desk as Eli re-buttoned his shirt and ran a hand through his hair.

They stared at each other for a moment, breathing heavily, and another door slammed in the distance.

"Em, you better go." Eli said, getting to his feet.

"Yeah. I-I'll see you later." Emily said, staring at her shoes. Eli glanced at her and wished he hadn't - she was practically radiating shame and regret, his stomach lurched and he felt guilt creeping over his own face.

"Emily, I-"

"Don't bother, Eli, I know I'm just a stupid kid to you-"

"You're not a stupid kid, Emily." Eli cut her off, almost defensive. "You're not stupid at all."

He didn't know if it was because of his attitude regarding honesty in his speech, if it was spilling over into his actions, but at the best of times he found it difficult to ignore his impulses. This time, it was the overwhelming urge to catch Emily by the waist and sweep her into an embrace that he was battling with - a fight he quickly lost, stepping forward and lifting her off her feet, kissing her deeply to punctuate his point.

"Definitely not stupid." he told her, breathless. "But you still better go, your dad will be expecting you."

"Keep your cell phone on?"

"Of course. Just don't expect me to pick you up from the house."


End file.
